Louis van Gaal’s side played some great football and ensured their winning run stretched to three matches following recent victories against Crystal Palace and Arsenal.

Here are five things we learnt about United from their latest encounter:

Van Persie can still do the business

Van Persie has been under the cosh in recent weeks but against Hull he put in a fine performance, scoring a belter of a third after setting up Rooney’s effort just before half time.

The Netherlands international has misfired for much of the campaign and his last-gasp equaliser against Chelsea was about the only moment of note in a season that promised much but previously failed to deliver for the 31-year-old.

But against Hull he had a 100 per cent on-target shooting accuracy and looked back to his old self.

Herrera is going nowhere

Those rumours linking Ander Herrera with the United exit looked particularly ludicrous after the Spaniard’s master-class on Saturday.

He may have started the match on the bench but he was soon introduced as a replacement for the injured Angel Di Maria and he took little time to impose himself on the game.

Carrick vital to this side

Van Gaal had to do without Michael Carrick for the opening weeks of his debut season but Saturday showed just how important the England international is to this United side.

He kept things ticking over brilliantly, giving a fine show of simple (and not so simple) passing and you can be sure he will be in United’s first-team whenever he is fit.

Youth has its place but…

Paddy McNair and Tyler Blackett were back on the bench this weekend with Smalling and Marcos Rojo taking the two centre-back positions.

Smalling’s performance against Arsenal was outstanding and he fully deserved his place against Hull while Rojo looked steady after his recent injury.

Van Gaal will continue to use his young players and McNair in particular has been great this season, but when more experienced stars are fit, they are likely to get the nod as shown on Saturday.

Mata deserves starting spot

From one sparkling Spaniard to another, with Juan Mata looking every inch a former club-record signing.

Vincent Ralph

After graduating with a degree in English Literature, Vincent completed a NCTJ-accredited qualification in newspaper and magazine journalism in 2005. He has worked for HITC for four years and is now Head of Editorial and Journalist Standards.